RotorFest roars into Brandywine Airport

WEST GOSHEN — The local skyline was helicopter-heavy on Saturday as the 16th annual RotorFest opened at the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center at Brandywine Airport.

“No question about it, it’s our largest event each year,” said museum executive director Tim Conaway, who projected a weekend attendance in upwards of 10,000, weather-permitting. “It really is a community event, but we pull in people from around a 100-mile radius.”

Due to tighter safety restrictions, the event has become more of a flight demonstration than a dynamic airshow, and for the first time, the main program runs from noon until 1:30 p.m. each day.

“Because of all the pressure from the (Federal Aviation Administration), it needs to be a very safe event, so it is more of what they call an ‘air event,’” Conaway said. “And with the FAA and demands from the people who own aircraft at Brandywine Airport, we’ve had to narrow it down from three smaller events during the day to one large one.”

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The event is put on by Dave Schultz Airshows out of Clearfield, Pa., which has coordinated airshows across the country since 1994.

“Dave does these for a living, so they are very well-run, professional events,” Conaway said.

As throughout its history, RotorFest is primarily a showcase of military helicopters. Among the headlining aircraft this year are the CH-6E SeaKnight and the AH-1W SeaCobra.

The event also serves as a celebration of America’s men and women in uniform.

“We always invite the military families in, and we sponsor them at a local hotel for the weekend and feed them,” Conaway said. “The weekend is about helicopters, but it’s more about the people and the crews in those helicopters.”

The show includes the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne All American Parachute Team, which made up of active-duty non-commissioned officers, like assistant team leader Michael Calhoun of Pekin, Ill.

“For us, it’s an honor to be able to come and perform for the American public,” said Calhoun, who has just under 800 career jumps. “Not everybody gets to see people from the U.S. Army in action. Usually it’s just on TV or in movies, so for us it’s good to get to know some people and put a face to it.”

The unit, originally formed in 1958, opened Saturday’s main program by parachuting in with giant versions of the Prisoners of War-Missing in Action and American flags, as the Star Spangled Banner played.

“It’s always resounding applause,” Calhoun said. “Everywhere we go, people are always happy to see us, and it makes us happy to do what we do.”